I literally squealed with glee when I found it at the party store.
After the party, I cut the helium balloons loose and put the sunshine balloon in Hannah's bedroom. It was too adorable to waste, and it brightened up the corner of her room. All was well.
Cut to many weeks later, when for the first time that I can remember, Hannah woke up from her nap crying. And not a little whimper, but a full-out cry. This never happens. With Jack, it was always how he woke up from a nap, but not Hannah. Hannah wakes up and smiles and coos and plays until someone comes to get her. Not on this day.
This day - full-out cry. I ran upstairs to see what had happened, and nothing was unusual except that she was pointing to her balloon that had moved from the corner towards her ceiling fan. I thought maybe as it moved on the ceiling, the noise had awoken our baby girl. After some cuddles, she seemed fine, and we went on with our day.
Until that night, when right before bed, Hannah started to cry and say that she wanted to sleep with Mommy. Hannah never asks to sleep with us. Ever. I chalked it up to the fact that she'd just gotten hurt before bed, so we snuggled for an extra long time, and she went to sleep.
Except that the same thing happened the next night. And she had not just gotten hurt.
We snuggled and tucked her in, and finally she fell asleep.
The next day, I was in the house alone, and all of a sudden, I heard what I thought was a bird upstairs. Lots of flapping and noise, and I immediately called Brad to see if there was some way he'd accidentally let an eagle into our home. Whatever it was, it sounded huge, and I was scared.
I got up the courage to crawl upstairs and peek towards the noise, when I realized that it was, indeed, not an eagle, but Hannah's sunshine balloon being beaten by the ceiling fan.
I turned off the fan, took the balloon out, deflated it, and saved it for a keepsake.
And while I was doing all of that, it hit me. This must be what woke Hannah up from her nap the other day. And why she's so scared to go to sleep at night.
And oh-my-goodness, I'm the worst mother ever because this balloon, which I find simply adorable, is scaring the crap out of our tiny tot before she goes to sleep every night.
I felt a tiny bit better after Brad told me that his parents put a black panther poster with yellow glowing eyes in his room when he was young:)
But still...
Last night, after about 15 minutes of sleep, Hannah woke up crying and scared. We went in and explained that the balloon was all gone, but she wasn't quite satisfied. We ended up having to take down her mobile which we've been hanging on to just a tad bit too long. Last baby syndrome, is what I'm calling it.
Poor thing. I felt so bad.
But right now? Princess is fast asleep.
And all is right with the world.
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